This Must Be the Place

This Must Be the Place centers around a Robert Smith-like character named Cheyenne (Penn) who is having trouble functioning in the real world. His wife (McDormand) supports and loves him every step of the way, but realizes he is a bit stunted when it comes to maturity. When his father dies, he is forced to leave Dublin, a place he hasn’t left in twenty years, to return to New York and help his family with some loose ends.  From there Cheyenne goes on a journey of self-discovery, meeting unlikely friends and learning hot to grow up.

This Must Be the Place stars the one-and-only Sean Penn, who, much like he always does, takes this character and makes it his own. Each gesture, breath, movement, and glance---they all serve a purpose. The wonderful thing about this movie is how open to interpretation it is. The viewers see relationships between characters that are completely unexplained, but we soon come to realize that how they know each other is not important.  It’s the connections we make and what we take away from our relationships that are most critical.

We are also shown that our actions ultimately define how others perceive us.  They make us who we are. It is important to take responsibility for your actions in life, not just for those around you, but for yourself as well.  Admitting you’re wrong is never easy.  Admitting that there are certain things in your life that you must eventually grow out of and let go of is even more difficult.  It is something that Penn’s character struggles with in this film, and is something we all (especially my just-out-of-college generation) can relate to.  This is one I would recommend to anyone. I would have watched the whole thing over again immediately, given the chance.

This Must Be the Place is playing in the non-competition Premiere category.